


Going Through the Motions

by maddiebug



Series: The Perfume Boy Debacle [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien's identity is revealed to Paris, Dating, F/M, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Marinette identity reveal, Perfume boy, post identity reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27465871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddiebug/pseuds/maddiebug
Summary: The day after the events of Perfume Boy and others, Adrien has to go to school and act like nothing has changed.But everything has changed.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste & Chloé Bourgeois & Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: The Perfume Boy Debacle [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2005135
Comments: 27
Kudos: 178





	Going Through the Motions

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhh context: Adrien's identity was revealed to all of Paris, there was some kissing, he and Ladybug talked about identities and he stayed for dinner.

Adrien wanted to spend the night at Marinette's. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he accepted that eventually he had to go home.

The Dupain-Chengs, (who seemingly had not checked the news, or at least were not treating Adrien any differently, which was a relief) fed him dinner, so at least he didn't have to go home on an empty stomach. 

It was a lovely meal, with croissants and chicken and vegetables. The whole family ate together, at one table. They had dinnertime conversation. 

Adrien had been quiet at first, unsure of what to say, but after Tom shared a bread pun, Adrien warmed up quickly. 

(Marinette rolled her eyes at every pun, but she was smiling.)

The Dupain-Cheng's house was full of warmth and life. It smelled like bread and cinnamon and vanilla. It smelled like a home, full of life and love. It didn't smell like disinfectant and bleach.

And there were messes. Flour spilled on the counter, scattered dishes in the sink. Marinette's bedroom had been a bit of a mess as well.

That never would've been allowed in the Agreste household. 

There was no pressure to be perfect and quiet. Adrien could be himself, make jokes, tell puns, smile at Marinette. He didn't have to sit up perfectly straight and tell his father lies about his mental health. (Which hadn't been great since mother died, but just spending time with Marinette made things seem brighter).

It wasn't a lonely meal, at a long, empty table.

Adrien decided that he was going to eat as many meals with Marinette as he could. It was definitely better than eating alone.

After dinner, he regrettably had to go home.

Adrien had no less than 12 missed calls from Nathalie, and 3 from his father.

Strange.

Father _never_ called him. 

All communication went through Nathalie or was scheduled. 

Adrien didn't think his father really cared. 

But maybe he did.

After hugging the Dupain-Chengs (Adrien was still not used to physical affection), Adrien walked across the street to the park. It was an innocuous enough location that he could have come from any direction. 

He called his Father and asked for a ride home. 

Nathalie picked up.

There was an audible relief in her voice. She told him that both she and his father were besides themselves with worry.

But yet, when the car arrived to pick him up, it was the Gorilla driving. Nathalie and Gabriel were nowhere to be seen. 

Adrien arrived home, where it was strangely silent. His father was nowhere to be found.

Typical.

He wasn't even in his office. 

Adrien hoped to have a conversation with his father, to explain, to reassure, even if he didn't know what words he would say. 

He didn't get the chance.

Adrien went to sleep without talking to his Father.

The next morning, Nathalie gave him his schedule, like nothing had changed. 

(All extracurricular activities had been cancelled. She didn't give an explanation)

Breakfast was scheduled for 7:30 am. It seemed like maybe, for once, he wouldn't have to eat alone.

When Adrien walked into the dining room, his Father wasn't there.

Nathalie told him that his father was busy.

Bullshit. He just didn't want to talk to Adrien. 

Instead of yelling, Adrien politely asked Nathalie to schedule a meeting between him and his father, to talk-

She moved things around and a meeting was scheduled for 8pm. A whole twelve hours away. 

Since he hadn't been banned from going to school, yet, Adrien decided to use his probable last day to it's full advantage. 

He left early, and arrived at the Dupain-Cheng bakery an hour before school started.

Neither Tom nor Sabine seemed surprised to see him there. 

They gave him some sample pastries (new recipes Tom was testing), and told him to check on Marinette.

She was completely asleep.

It was cute.

Adrien woke her up, and went downstairs so she could get ready. 

In 20 minutes, she was out of pajamas, had put her hair into a messy bun and packed her backpack.

She was beautiful, and they kissed no less than three times before leaving for school. 

When they got to school, there were whispers. 

Some about Adrien, some about Marinette, most about how they were holding hands. They ignored the whispers and walked into class. It was early enough that no one else was present, and Marinette placed her backpack on the seat that Nino usually sat it.

Right next to Adrien.

He was just going through the motions, pretending that everything was the same.

But it wasn't.

Everything had changed. 

For one thing, everyone knew that he was Chat Noir.

By being in class, being present, he put everyone near him at risk of getting akukatized. Hawkmoth could specifically target people near Adrien, to get at his miraculous.

But he also had Ladybug right by his side. 

No matter what happened, they could handle it. 

Together.

Mrs. Bustier pulled him aside before class to talk, but even then, he wasn't alone.

Marinette stood with him. "Whatever you have to say to Adrien, you can say to me."

"Its about a sensitive topic."

Adrien squeezed Marinette's hand. _I'm okay._

She squeezed back. I'm _with you._

Bustier glanced at their hands, and up at Marinette. "What happened to hiding your secret?"

"What do you mean?" Adrien felt Marinette freeze.

"None of my students are subtle. You two disappear every akuma attack." Bustier smiled. "Why did you think I stopped counting your tardies?"

Marinette shrugged. "Well, whatever it is, I'm with Adrien."

Bustier sighed. "Fine, I need to talk to the two of you."

They had a long conversation, about attendance policy and missed work. Mrs. Bustier agreed to excuse any Akuma-related absences, as long as Marinette and Adrien made up all missed work. And she would be lenient on any long-term projects. 

They could get notes from classmates. (Alya already took neat notes to copy for Lila who had been having 'wrist issues' and supposedly couldn't take her own notes. It was obviously bullshit. As far as battles went, Lila wasn't a priority)

It was fair.

And it was better than the alternative.

Marinette had been running out of excuses. She claimed that her hamster died on four separate occasions.

Adrien just blamed everything on emergency photoshoots, which didn't exist. 

When they walked back into class, the rest of the class had already arrived. 

Everyone stared at Adrien, creating an awkward tension in the room. He wasn't sure if they were going to acknowledge the elephant in the room or if they were going to go through the motions.

It seemed like the latter, until Chloe cut the tension with a laugh. "I can't believe she called you Perfume Boy."

A wave of laughter went around the room.

"In my defense," Marinette grumbled, "I was panicking."

Everyone went silent. 

Alya was the first to speak. "You?"

"Oh shit." Marinette dropped Adrien's hand. "Can we all pretend we didn't hear that?"

Various students were exchanging money throughout the classroom.

"No way." Alix cheered, as Kim passed her a twenty. "I just won a bet."

Max frowned, handing Alix money. "Your prediction was the most statistically improbable. I don't understand."

Chloe clapped. "I told you. Told all of you that Ladynoir would happen. Pay up."

"And I told you that Adrinette would happen." Alya looked around, collecting significant revenue of her own. 

"What?" Adrien blinked.

Marinette crossed her arms. "If you were making bets on our love lives, we get 10% of the profits." 

Alix, Chloe and Alya handed over some money. Enough to pay for lunch.

"I think we just crowd-funded our first date." Marinette counted the cash.

"Lunch?"

"Yeah. I know this really good bakery-"

"Marinette, you live in that bakery. Your parents won't charge you."

Marinette shook her head. "Also, Alix, you can't talk to your future self to win bets."

"You have no proof that I did that."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "I gave you the miraculous myself."

"Its not cheating though."

"Its definitely cheating."

Kim frowned. "Thats not fair."

Max shrugged. "She's right. We didn't specifically make any rules against it, but from now on, Alix, no cheating."

"I'm just using my resources."

"Its cheating."

Bunnyx stepped out of a portal, and took half of the cash from Alix's hands. "Its definitely cheating." Then she disappeared.

It was the most chaotic morning of Adrien's life.

Nothing was the same, and it never would be again.

He didn't know why he even tried to pretend it would be. Everything had changed.

He had Ladybug by his side.

Together, the two of them were unstoppable.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh hohoho (wait I'm not Santa)  
> Now I'm wanting to write a fic with Gabriel and Nathalie talking to Adrien.  
> Hmmm and maybe one with Marinette's parents where they talk about her being Ladybug.  
> Oh yeah it's all coming together.


End file.
